A Small Favor
by VoidStar
Summary: Kaien's wife returns home from a mission, and asks Rukia a favor. A little glimpse at Rukia's other crush.


She had just come home from a mission, and she was a mess: her robes torn in numerous places, bandages occasionally visible through the gashes in the cloth, hiding the gashes in her skin; where her clothing was undamaged, it was disheveled; and her hair had begun to slip from the tight bun and tail in which she kept it. She was such a sight that, upon her sudden entrance into the division offices, Rukia nearly lept into a fighting stance, half-expecting the enemy to come charging in after her. "S-Shiba-dono," she stammered, settling on standing stiffly at attention, bowing at the waist as her lagging manners finally caught up with the rest of her racing mind. "Welcome home--should you not be at the infirmary? Those injuries--"

"I was just there," she replied, and though it was an interruption, it was gently phrased and gracefully executed, slipping into the pause between Rukia's words as though it were an ordinary answer. "I'm all right. Is Kaien here?"

"Ah--no," Rukia replied, eyes cast downward. "Kaien-do--Vice Captain Shiba is currently attending a meeting as Captain Ukitake's proxy. He requested that I be here to inform you of this." She bit her lip, glancing back up at her superior. "The meeting should last...quite a while. But shall I retrieve him? I'll bring him at once...!"

She nodded, smiling, and Rukia's expression brightened instantly. "If you would, please. It's rather urgent." After a brief pause, she added, "Thank you, Rukia."

Giving another bow--even deeper than the last, her back bent forward far enough to produce a rather uncomfortable pang that raced along her spine--Rukia said, "You are always more than welcome, Shiba-dono. It's nothing, I assure you." She gave a third, quicker bow before racing out of the office. Her back ached, but it had been worth it to conceal the red that had blossomed in her cheeks at the sound of her given name being uttered by the officer.

Rukia returned a few moments later with sweat slicking her bangs to her brow, her breaths coming in slow, heavy pants. She also returned alone. "I...cannot even apologize, Shiba-dono," she said, lowering herself to her knees and touching her head to the floor. "I was unable to retrieve the Vice Captain."

She sighed, raking a hand back through the loosened strands of her hair. "I see," she said, brow furrowed into the beginnings of an irritated frown. "Well, thank you again, Rukia--and please, stand." The hint of a displeased expression faded back into her usual smile, and she knelt by Rukia, laying a hand on her shoulder. "There's no need for that. You did the best you could, and I can ask nothing more of you."

"T...Thank you," Rukia said as she rose, eyes wide. "But nonetheless, I am sorry. It sounded urgent, so..."

"It is. My unit ran across a rather extensive Hollow nest in the living world--a site where many murders took place, several years ago," she explained. "We bloodied them somewhat, but it will take reinforcements to fully root them out."

"I...see. That does sound quite serious indeed."

Her smile widened, and she gave a light shrug. "Yes. But, for the time being, it can wait," she said, her voice light and reassuring. When she smiled that way, Rukia almost couldn't help but smile in return. "I was wondering, perhaps, if I could ask one more favor from you--a slightly smaller one...?"

Rukia nodded quickly. "Certainly...anything!" she said earnestly, blinking a bit in surprise as this produced a laugh from the other woman.

"No need to make it sound so serious," she said, still smiling, drawing a narrow length of white ribbon from a hidden, undamaged pocket in her robes. "Could you help me fix my hair?"

Rukia's cheeks started to feel warm again, and she lifted her hands, shaking her head. "Ah...I-I don't have any talent for such things, Shiba-dono--I'd be of no help."

"Oh, come now," she chided gently, holding out the ribbon for Rukia to take. "It'll be fine. I'll explain everything you need to do."

"Well..." Rukia paused, staring down at the proffered cloth for a moment before taking it. "If you think it'll be all right."

"Of course it will," she said with a chuckle. "You keep making this seem like a matter of life and death, Rukia."

"I-I'm sorry."

"It's all right, really. Just relax. Now, first..."

Her instructions, Rukia found, were simple to follow; it was her hair that presented the only real difficulty--it refused to stay down as it should, hurled into disorganized mutiny by the violence from which she had just returned. "I can't get it to stay down, Shiba-dono..." she said apologetically.

"It's all right," she repeated, smiling and glancing back over her shoulder at Rukia. "Just try and smooth it down a bit with your hand. That'll have to serve until I can take a brush to it."

Rukia, to her own surprise, actually gulped. This was the most nerve-wracking experience she'd had in recent memory. She reached out slowly, running her fingers over and through the officer's locks, trying to press them down as best she could. The first pass produced little in the way of results, so she did it again, again, and again, planning on contuining as long as she had to until--

"That's enough, Rukia. You don't have to make it perfect." Again, that soft tone, chiding and yet free of any real reproach.

"A-All right," Rukia said. This time, when the hair was gathered for the bun, it actually looked like something approaching normal. Rukia began to smile as she shifted her attention towards tying the ponytail. Shiba-dono was always so beautiful. Even in this battered state, even when the stresses of her position managed to drive the smile from her face, she was beautiful. Her hair was a lovely shade, and its texture was as soft and silky as it looked, just as Rukia had imagined. Truly, Rukia had been honored by this opportunity. Never had she dreamed that she'd ever have a chance to touch it. This chance would have to be savored. Rukia took her time, arranging the ponytail as neatly as she could, the tips of her fingers trailing down its length, smoothing, stroking.

It was almost by accident that Rukia's fingers slipped from the ponytail and brushed along the skin of the officer's throat. Almost. Rukia had been slowly letting her hands move in that direction, but the slip that closed the last bit of distance had not been intended, and she flinched away almost immediately. Whatever spell had possessed her that had convinced her to do such a thing had broken, snapped like a fraying rope. Her teeth gritted, her eyes wide and set in an expression that was teetering towards panic, she braced herself for the reaction.

"I think that, perhaps, you have more talent for this than you let on." The reply almost made Rukia jump, her mood and her face quickly twisting away from fear and more towards confusion. Then she noticed that the other woman's eyes were opening.

_Did she not notice? Or had she been that..._ Rukia didn't allow the thought to fully form, stamping down on it before it could take root. "Y-You...praise me far more than I deserve," she murmured, looking down.

"Nonsense," she replied with a smile, turning to pat Rukia's shoulder. "Kaien's right about you, you know. Always fretting on needlessly. You can relax--you're amongst friends here. Amongst _family._"

Rukia shuddered, casting her eyes towards the floor. "...I shall keep that in mind, Shiba-dono."

It was her turn to look worried, tilting her head to the side as she watched her subordinate's expression crumble into something flat and sad. "Though I admit I prefer the fretful you to the depressed one. Did I say something wrong?"

Shaking her head swiftly, Rukia said in as a controlled a voice as she could muster, "No. It's nothing."

"I think it's something. But!" and that smile returned, and Rukia's gaze lifted, unable to resist its pull, "That's okay. For now. Types like you always open up in the end, one way or another." She winked, and Rukia's head spun. The temperature of her face flared so quickly it felt as though she were standing by a furnace. "So prepare to meet defeat, one of these days."

As far as Rukia concerned, that day had already come. She opened her mouth, prepared to spill everything out: why the word "family" had made her mood so dark, why she had let her hands slip, why she had lied in the first place about--

"Aha!" a loud, rough male voice boomed. "Welcome home! And yo, Rukia." Kaien grinned to his wife and waved to Rukia before fixing her with a somewhat puzzled look. "...What're you doing here?"


End file.
